Pope Benedict XVI might have only joined Twitter in December, but he's already saying so long to the social network.

Here are a few examples of the Pope's tweets.
Screenshot by CNET

According to CNN, Vatican Radio announced today that the Pope's postings on @Pontifex will officially end on February 28 when he ends his reign as the leader of the Catholic Church. Vatican Radio reportedly said that Benedict's last tweet will come on February 27.

It's no surprise that the Pope's tweets will be ending. Earlier this month, Benedict announced that he'd be resigning from the papacy at the end of the month due to health reasons. A new Pope is expected to take his place next month after the Church's cardinals choose a replacement.

When the Vatican created the Pontifex account, it was careful to not make it specific to Pope Benedict. Assuming the next Pope wants to tweet, the same account could be used.

The Pope's Twitter account now has over 1.5 million followers. His first tweet landed on December 12. He has tweeted 36 since then, generally sending one every few days. Not surprising in any way, most of his tweets have been religious but he has also tweeted his concern for civilians in war-torn countries.

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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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